National Testing Agency (NTA) has invited applications for the Graduate Aptitude Test- Biotechnology (GAT-B) and Biotechnology Eligibility Test (BET) 2026.

GAT-B is an All-India Entrance Examination to test the eligibility for admissions to DBT-supported Post Graduate programmes in Biotechnology and allied areas, including (i) M.Sc. Biotechnology and allied areas (ii) M.Tech. Biotechnology and allied areas (iii) M.Sc. Agricultural Biotechnology (iv) M.V.Sc. Animal Biotechnology at participating Institutions/Universities in India. GAT-B 2026 score is valid for admission to these courses during the academic year 2026-2027 only. After the declaration of GAT-B 2026 results, an all-India category-wise merit list will be prepared as per the Reservation Policy of the Government of India. Call for admissions, for GAT-B 2026 qualified candidates, will be advertised separately by participating institutions/universities as per institutional admission and selection norms.

Qualified candidates of GAT-B 2026, admitted to DBT-supported Post Graduate programmes in Biotechnology and allied areas, at Participating Institutions/Universities in India, will be paid a stipend as under: (i) M.Sc. Biotechnology & Allied Areas - Rs 5000/- per month (ii) M.Sc. Agricultural Biotechnology - Rs 7500/- per month (iii) M.Tech. / M.V.Sc. programmes - Rs 12000/- per month. Continuation of stipend for the second year of the programme is subject to satisfactory progress of the student, to be certified by participating institutions/ universities.

Details of participating institutions/ universities for GAT-B 2026 examination are given in Appendix II of the Information Bulletin at https://exams.nta.nic.in/gat-bet/

Eligibility: Applicant should be an Indian national. Those meeting the minimum eligibility criteria of Participating Institutions / Universities (Appendix-II) are eligible to apply for GAT-B 2026 entrance examination. Candidates may further verify the eligibility criteria on the website of the Participating Institutions/ Universities.

National Testing Agency (NTA) has also invited applications for the Biotechnology Eligibility Test (BET) 2026.

BET is the national qualifying examination for the award of Doctoral Research Fellowships under the DBT-Junior Research Fellowship (DBT- JRF) Programme. These fellowships are tenable at any recognised university/institution in India where the selected fellow registers for Ph.D. programme. Based on the performance in the BET 2026, two categories of merit list shall be prepared (Category I and Category II). Government of India norms for reservation will be followed for the shortlisting of candidates. Candidates shortlisted under Category-I shall be eligible to avail a fellowship at any recognised university/institution across India, where the candidate enrols for a PhD. Programme. Candidates shortlisted under Category-II will be eligible to be appointed in any DBT-sponsored project with a fellowship equivalent to NET/GATE qualification as per current DST guidelines and/or enrol in a PhD programme, subject to selection through the institutional selection process. Selection in Category-II shall not entitle the candidate to any fellowship from the DBT-JRF programme. More details on the fellowship can be found in the Information Bulletin.

Eligibility: Applicant should hold a 4-year/8 semester UG degree with minimum 75% marks in aggregate/equivalent grade or a Master’s degree or equivalent (M.Sc. /M.Tech. /M.VSc./ M.Pharm. /Integrated M.Sc./M.Tech./MBBS) with 60% marks/equivalent Grade; in Biotechnology/Life Sciences or allied disciplines such as Biomedical, Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Botany, Chemistry, Computational Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Zoology or any other allied areas of Biology/Life-Sciences. For B.Tech and B.E degrees, applicants should have a minimum 60% marks. Relaxation in marks for reserved categories is given in the Information Bulletin.

Age Limit: Upper age limit is 28 years as on 9.4.2026. SC/ ST/ Differently Abled/ Women candidates have age relaxation of up to 5 years (33 years), and for OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) candidates up to 3 years (31 years).

Examination pattern: GAT-B 2026 will be held from 9 am to 12 noon on 17.05.2026, and BET from 3 pm to 6 pm on 17.05.2026. Both tests will comprise Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQ) in two sections. For GAT B, Section A will have 60 MCQs from Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology, of the level of 10+2, all of which are to be attempted. Each question carries 1 mark (total 60 marks). For each incorrect response, 1/2 or 0.5 mark will be deducted from the total marks. Section B will have 100 MCQs of Graduate / Bachelor’s level from Basic Biology, Life Sciences, Biotechnology and allied areas. The candidate must attempt 60 questions in Section B. Each question carries 3 marks (maximum 180 marks). One mark will be deducted from the total marks for each incorrect response.

For the Biotechnology Eligibility Test (BET) 2026, Section A will have 50 MCQs from General Science, Mathematics, Chemistry, General Aptitude, Analytical, Quantitative Ability and General Biotechnology. Section B will have 150 questions from specific areas of Biotechnology, of which 50 are to be answered. Each correct answer will get 3 marks, and each incorrect answer will result in a loss of 1 mark. The link to the syllabus of both tests is given in the Information Bulletin. For both tests, the medium of the question papers shall be English only.

Application: Application can be submitted for GAT-B 2026 or BET 2026 or both at https://exams.nta.nic.in/gat-bet/, latest by 5 pm on 9.4.2026. Only one application is to be submitted by a candidate, irrespective of whether applying for GAT-B 2026, BET 2026 or both. However, a candidate applying for both exams has to pay double the examination fee.

Application fee for GAT B 2026/ BET 2026 is Rs1300/-. It is Rs 650/- for SC/ST/PwD. For those applying for both GAT-B & BET (Both) 2026, it is Rs 2600/Rs 1300/-.

Those who have either appeared or are due to appear in the final examination of their qualifying degree are also eligible to apply for bot tests provisionally, under the result awaited (RA) category.

Correction in the Particulars of the Application Form can be done online from 11.04.2026 to 13.04.2026.

More details can be had from https://exams.nta.nic.in/gat-bet/